The advantages of a high-speed rail – an example between Madrid and Barcelona

In 2008 a high-speed rail connection has been opened between Madrid and Barcelona shortening the time getting from one city to the other to 2 hours and 38 minutes. The main goals of the construction were the reduction in travel time on the corridor and the increase of capacity and safety conditions on the rail line (Frontier, 2011). There are numerous changes that followed the launch of the HSR between Madrid and Barcelona. It shifts passengers...

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How can a boat lift help a region to develop?

But what is a boat lift? – one might ask the question. I assume that not all of the readers are exactly familiar with the concept of a boat lift, but in order to understand the following story everyone should get a basic idea of it. In a nutshell a boatlift is a machine which transports boats between water at two different elevations. Every boatlift in the world moves vertically (like an elevator) but there is an extraordinary one which...

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Shrinking the Atlantic Ocean – A Case of Transatlantic Superspeed VacTrain

by Shota Gvaramadze The idea of it was first proposed by Michel Verne in his book in 1888, a son of the famous French science fiction author Jules Verne. But it was not until 60ies when engineering visionaries started to get into the science of building a transatlantic superspeed vac-train (TSV). The idea is spectacular and audacious, as well as unimaginably hard and expensive by today’s capacities and costs.   A TSV train would hover...

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The Success of ZGC Science Park, China

by Anastasiia Shirinina In the 1980s, the idea of a science park establishment quickly moved beyond the Western countries and parks were also established in Brazil, India, Malaysia, in the former "Eastern Bloc" - in Eastern Europe, CIS and China.  There are about 400 science parks created in the world today. Many others are in the process of creation. The success of science parks in promoting technology transfers and attracting clusters...

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Skolkovo – the Heart of Russian Modernization

by Aleksei Khlystun20 years after the collapse of Soviet Union Russian economy is still backward and highly uncompetitive. The major source for resent growth is constantly growing commodity prices which are heavily exported abroad. However, during financial crisis when drop in oil prices led to 7% contraction of GDP, government realized scale of structural problems and in 2009 announced federal program of economy modernization. The aim of this program...

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Ingria Techno Park: A Promising Start

by Tetiana ProtasovaAmong the many incubators and techno-parks of Russia, Ingria proudly stands out from the crowd. Not only does it possess a substantial amount of capital (the total volume of investment in the creation of Ingria techno-park equals to 720 ml euro , but it also seems to have learned a lot from the success and failure of similar projects worldwide.Overcoming SuperficialityRussia currently harbors over a hundred business incubators, most of them financed publicly. The standard list of services provided to the residents includes: free or under-priced office premises, conference rooms, channeling communication with investors and...

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